The present invention relates to a system and method for authenticating an avatar, and more particularly authenticating an avatar with reputation information from a centralized identity provider. Such an authentication system is useful in conjunction with security and identification within Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), virtual worlds, and online social networks. Currently, at best, identification and reputation within virtual environments is highly fragmented among each individual virtual world. More often, however, there is an utter lack of identification and reputation within the virtual environments. The fact that identity and reputation within virtual worlds is so elusive results in heightened risk when sharing important information, such as in financial transactions.
An avatar is a virtual representation of an individual within a virtual environment. Avatars often include physical characteristics, statistical attributes, inventories, social relations, emotional representations, and weblogs (blogs) or other recorded historical data. Avatars may be human in appearance, but are not limited to any appearance constraints. Avatars may be personifications of a real world individual, such as a Player Character (PC) within a MMOG, or may be an artificial personality, such as a Non-Player Character (NPC). Additional artificial personality type avatars include personal assistants, guides, educators, answering servers and information providers. Additionally, some avatars may have the ability to be automated some of the time, and controlled by a human at other times. Such Quasi-Player Characters (QPCs) may perform mundane tasks automatically, but more expensive human agents take over in cases of complex problems.
Avatars, however, exist in virtual worlds that embrace anonymity. An avatar may appear any way the author of the avatar, or end user, desires. Moreover the name, appearance, and statistics of an avatar may often be changed on a whim. An end user may have several avatars for any virtual environment, and connecting an avatar to its end user is difficult at best.
The number of active subscribers to MMOGs is at least 10 million people. Each person pays $15 and up a month to play these games, and maybe an additional 20 million people login occasionally. Estimates are that players spent about $1 billion in real money in 2005 on virtual goods and services for MMOGs combined. Moreover, at least 1.5 million people subscribe to virtual worlds. In January, 2006, inside one such virtual social world, people spent nearly $5 million in some 4.2 million transactions buying or selling clothes, buildings, and the like. Moreover, participants in web communities number in the multiple tens of millions. Every day, these participants engage in financial transactions. Additionally, access to certain information, subsets of the virtual world, or services may be restricted to certain participants only. Such activities produce a large risk for the parties involved, much of the risk stemming from identity ambiguities.
Currently, when a party wishes to provide sensitive information, transfer goods or allow access to an avatar embodied end user, local reputation of the avatar, if available, is often the only assurances the party has, since there is currently no way to ascertain end user reputation beyond the limited reputation of each individual avatar's local reputation. End users may improperly use received information, misrepresent themselves to gain access, or breach contract since there is usually no repercussions to the end user because, with a simple change in identity, the wrong deed is no longer traceable to the end user. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a system enabled to compile the end user's reputation, rather than a single avatars reputation, in order to dictate online transactions.
Moreover, such a system of authentication may be utilized to provide highly targeted marketing. By compiling users' preferences, highly refined advertisements may be generated for the end user, however, without knowledge of an avatar's identity, such refined advertisements are ineffectual. This further reinforces the need of a system for authenticating an avatar for identity.
Additionally, due to the fragmented multitudes of virtual worlds, it is also important for such an authentication system to be available across multiple platforms. Effectively, by removing the authentication system from any singular virtual world, and enabling a global system, reputation and identity information may be more accurately compiled. Also, such a system enables secure communications between individuals that are inhibiting separate virtual worlds by verifying identity of the individuals within each virtual environment. Systems for authenticating an avatar's end users' identity and supplying reputation information in this manner do not currently exist.
Additionally, due to the frequency of financial transactions, and the regularity of access inquiries, such authentications are preferably performed rapidly, with a minimal interference to the end user and transacting party. As such, it is desirable to have a system for authenticating an avatar's end users' identity and supplying reputation information that is integrated into the virtual environment for rapid and efficient authentication.
It is therefore apparent that an urgent need exists for a system and method for authenticating avatars that integrates the ability to provide reputation information of the avatar's user. This system would be able to provide increased security in online transactions, enable targeted marketing and promote heightened accountability for participants in virtual worlds.